Blog posts by Louise Livesey: 2008
Fantastic News!
By Louise Livesey | 12 December 2008, 11:27
A long post is due from me, I know, and will be put together over the weekend. I just wanted to flag this news - The International Criminal Court has appointed Professor Catherine Mackinnon as it’s advisor on gender crimes….
Of interest today…
By Louise Livesey | 7 December 2008, 19:45
I’m fairly sure we must have done this one before, but in case we didn’t, here’s 12 helpful suggestions for men in feminist settings (including this one, by the way). And, y’know, they are really worth reprinting here: 1. Realize…
Round Up
By Louise Livesey | 1 December 2008, 16:38
Yesterday I made a note to blog about the three women and one man short list for the Turner Prize. I optimistically wrote might help with their dreadful gender ratio for winners as only three women have won it since…
Some articles of interest
By Louise Livesey | 1 December 2008, 10:54
Today is World Aids Day - there is a film screening over at SnagFilms showing several films for free including We Will Not Die Like Dogs and India’s Hidden Plague. Of course the UK government is responsible for deporting people…
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News and Views
By Louise Livesey | 27 November 2008, 09:07
Here’s a really powerful reminder that, in the words of bell hooks, feminism is for everyone: The definition of feminism does not require a diploma or other proof of graduation. It is not reserved for those who teach women’s…
Help Rape Crisis in a few easy steps
By Louise Livesey | 26 November 2008, 17:23
Would you like to help Rape Crisis launch a national anti-rape campaign? Think about past public education campaigns like drink-driving or non-smoking - it really has the potential to make a difference, to change attitudes towards survivors and even…
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News Round-Up
By Louise Livesey | 26 November 2008, 08:56
Yesterday was International End Violence Against Women Day. Following our coverage of the trial of the Sheffield man who raped his daughters over 25 years comes the news he was found guilty and sentenced to life. His minimum sentence (before…
More News
By Louise Livesey | 25 November 2008, 16:36
The UK now has specific legislation to try and prevent forced marriages. This includes the right to issue an injunction to prevent a young person being taken abroad and to force family members to disclose the location of a person…
Some news items
By Louise Livesey | 24 November 2008, 16:35
First up this piece about a Saudi all-girl rock band, The Accolade, who’s music seems pretty good to me. Saudi Arabia’s strict laws mean they can’t perform publically, have photo’s taken for album covers and rehearse in secret but the…
News and Views
By Louise Livesey | 20 November 2008, 11:28
I am sure I can’t be the only one infuriated that some bloke’s resignation from a reality entertainment programme has overshadowed all other news including the government’s latest legislative announcements on prostitution. The BBC has contrasting views from two sex…
Apparently men have to be Cervix Savvy
By Louise Livesey | 20 November 2008, 08:39
This website (with hat-tip to C for sending it to me) is designed to encourage people to be more aware of the need for cervical screening - a right and good thing. But on looking at the website who would…
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OK I eat my hat….
By Louise Livesey | 18 November 2008, 12:34
Email just received from Chargrilled on this. All I can say is wow and go F Word! (Obviously the fact they were ever there in the first place is abhorrent but this is responsive). Dear Dr. Livesey, We would like…
And in other news
By Louise Livesey | 18 November 2008, 10:10
I can’t work out whether to be appalled or applaud this story…. Reinforcing gender stereotypes by having an all-girls school plan a wedding as a learning tool (as that’s obviously the most important thing they’ll ever have to do). But…
News Round Up - ridiculous ideas of the day
By Louise Livesey | 18 November 2008, 09:32
This might get long…. I have to join the calls for Helen Mirren to stop spouting on rape. It goes against the grain for me to want to silence a woman but sometimes speech can be deadlier than, well, pretty…
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Genuinely being advertised on Ebay
By Louise Livesey | 18 November 2008, 08:30
But obviously we don’t live in a society hostile to women’s rights….. Description: A blue short-sleeved men’s tshirt on which the slogan reads: Statistically 9 out of 10 people enjoy gangrape Description: A red short-sleeved men’s tshirt on which the…
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Round Up
By Louise Livesey | 16 November 2008, 21:44
Why is Germaine Greer writing about Michelle Obama’s dress? Did I miss something? Is this really contemporary feminist analysis? The mind boggles. Mind it does that a lot, not least with this advertising campaign from the RSPCA Australia (warning distressing…
More news and views
By Louise Livesey | 16 November 2008, 18:59
Jacqui Smith has clarified the proposed law on men who buy sex. It will be criminal to purchase sex with a woman who is controlled for anothers profit - that is women who are pimped and trafficked. Of course this…
Two news articles analysed….
By Louise Livesey | 16 November 2008, 16:30
First up this piece from the Daily Mail arguing that women over 50 years old are less bitchy than those under 50. So why do I dislike it? 1. It implicitly presents women over the age of 50 as being…
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Somehow I feel I should remember the Newsround theme….
By Louise Livesey | 14 November 2008, 12:33
Several sources are reporting an acid attack on schoolgirls in Kandahar. All the girls were wearing burqas which afforded some protection. The Taleban have denied responsibility. The UK gender pay gap has increased to 17.1% (overall and 36% for part…
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For the laughs
By Louise Livesey | 13 November 2008, 18:10
Full Size Version Here…
News Round-Up
By Louise Livesey | 13 November 2008, 10:38
Seemingly according to Jersey officials sexual abuse survivors should shut up. Now bear with me whilst I explain how I got to that conclusion… They have called the release of information about the investigations at Haute de la Garenne “misleading”….
News and Views
By Louise Livesey | 12 November 2008, 16:05
First up on Proposition 8 there is a great Open Letter at Racialious by Adele Carpenter: These articles mistakenly imply that the struggles for civil rights for LGBT people and communities of color are separate or even at odds with…
Alice Walker writes to Barack Obama
By Louise Livesey | 11 November 2008, 16:58
Here’s her letter to the President Elect. Nov. 5, 2008 Dear Brother Obama, You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know,…
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Some News in Brief
By Louise Livesey | 11 November 2008, 16:35
Here’s what Obama is planning to do for women. All sounds remarkably, well, the starting of good things for women! Most positive measures seem to me to be acknowledging the gender impact of HIV and Aids (but sadly without the…
International End Violence Against Women Petition
By Louise Livesey | 7 November 2008, 10:27
Reprinted from contact: Dear Friends, There are less than 3 weeks to go before UNIFEM will hand over all signatures to the Say NO to Violence against Women campaign to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. So far, more than 490,000 people…
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News Flash
By Louise Livesey | 7 November 2008, 08:37
BONG Man defends other men’s right to not get long punishment for murdering partners/women if they show autonomous sexual behaviour. Apparently changes in the law which remove the “provocation” defence of infedelity ignores the impact of sexual betrayal on men…
Teen Sex Attitudes Surveyed
By Louise Livesey | 5 November 2008, 12:56
Channel 4 reports a study of sexual attitudes amongst 14-16 years. Key findings are that: boys thought it was acceptable to pressure girls into sex and to use alcohol to get them into bed. boys often used aggressive language about…
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Daily News and Views
By Louise Livesey | 4 November 2008, 11:15
First off, Momgrind has a fantastic list of ten reasons you should stop reading women’s magazines. Mentoring seems to be coming under review - something I’ve long been interested in because, basically, it’s what men do incredible well formally and…
I’m sorry “Child Rape: the musical?” how is that even…..I’m speechless
By Louise Livesey | 4 November 2008, 11:04
Those witty theatre types have done it again, this time by writing a lovely little piece of musical theatre which valorises child rape, child prostitution and the punters “rights” to have sex. Oh yes, that sounds like a fun night…
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OMG!
By Louise Livesey | 4 November 2008, 09:31
That is all I could say to this amazing piece. That and almost crying at it’s power……
Canadian Feminists Issue Manifesto
By Louise Livesey | 3 November 2008, 09:44
The first Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Conference, Toujours Rebelles, has issues a manifesto - it’s damned impressive… Feminists Unite! DOWN WITH the colonial legacy of genocide and assimilation of Aboriginal peoples, particularly of Aboriginal women DOWN WITH the sexism and racism…
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In the news
By Louise Livesey | 3 November 2008, 09:27
First off, another woman has been stoned to death in Somalia by Islamist rebels. This barbaric practice has to end. In this case the eager crowd were told the victim was submitting voluntarily but clearly saw her struggling to prevent…
News Round-Up
By Louise Livesey | 1 November 2008, 09:08
First news from America that voters are influenced by the looks of female candidates - not really shocking news given that almost all groups are influenced in almost all settings by the looks of females from job interviews to personal…
Some things to muse on….
By Louise Livesey | 28 October 2008, 17:13
Racialious has an interesting piece here on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Woman is the Nigger of the World and thoughts on oppression, misogyny and racism. Worth a read and a ponder, really it is. In the same way Stroppyblog…
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And some more….
By Louise Livesey | 27 October 2008, 10:42
A few more stories…. A US-Iranian student has been arrested for her work on the women’s signature campaign in Iran which aims to change gender discriminatory laws. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has released some interesting reports on child poverty looking…
In the news…
By Louise Livesey | 27 October 2008, 10:08
A round up of some stories: Firstly violence against women is adapting to new technologies - a stalker used Facebook to facilitate his crimes which resulted in a woman having acid thrown over her. The perp has been found guilty…
Some words of wisdom from Naomi Wolf
By Louise Livesey | 16 October 2008, 10:44
Despite controversy Wolf hits the nail on the head with some of this. Her advice to young women (written in 1992)? 1. Redefine what being a woman means. 2. Break the taboo around being self-sufficient including in terms of asking…
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When a beauty contest allegedly isn’t a beauty contest…
By Louise Livesey | 15 October 2008, 10:05
Gok Wan continues his controversial and maybe confusing approach to women (see here and here) by hosting a naked beauty contest programme for Channel 4. Channel 4 have claimed it as a way of reintroducing feminism to a new audience…
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Some news stories
By Louise Livesey | 15 October 2008, 09:11
There is a film coming out called Trade which covers trafficking of women for sexual purposes into the US. It draws on a phenomenon coined the “Fields of Shame” in which trafficked women are forced to engage in prositution in…
ASA - lets do something about this…
By Louise Livesey | 5 October 2008, 13:37
You can’t have failed to notice that the Advertising Standards Agency (in the UK) has absolutely no conception of gender issues at all. In fact it really, really, really doesn’t get why women get so angry at both advertising and…
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Obit - Louise Armstrong
By Louise Livesey | 1 October 2008, 14:11
I first came across Louise Armstrong when I read Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics. I’m not going to say that it changed my life in a moment, but it had a pretty profound impact on my work and on…
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A Round Up
By Louise Livesey | 24 September 2008, 11:02
First off, lets start with South Africa because no-one else has mentioned it yet. Thabo Mbeki was forced to resign over the weekend by internal dissent in the party. It’s likely that Jacob Zuma will be elected leader of the…
Some on Politics and Some on Violence - themed round up
By Louise Livesey | 19 September 2008, 09:42
In best Sesame Street styleee, this blog entry is brought to you by the themes politics and violence….. First up, newly elected leader of the Kadima party in Israel, Tzipi Livni, has been challenged by right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu…
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Nemi is surprisingly astute….
By Louise Livesey | 18 September 2008, 11:11
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Police apologise over accusations of transgender violence
By Louise Livesey | 18 September 2008, 10:00
The Police have issues a statement today unambiguously apologising for giving the impression that there was violence initiated by transgender Pride attenders over a transgender woman being excluded from the womens toilets. Commander Steve Allen apologised for the “deep upset”…
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More stuff from the wonder of the interwebs
By Louise Livesey | 18 September 2008, 09:56
Over here is a great short piece from Canada on young feminists, intersectionality and the women’s movement. Just how overwhelming a task it would be to define “today’s feminism” hit me the other day when I read the program for…
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Round Up….
By Louise Livesey | 17 September 2008, 09:45
Welcome to another whirlwind whizz through news and views…. First off a cartoon from Slowpoke which neatly sums up, for me, some of the debates around Sarah Palin’s presumed feminism. That said it’s important to say misogynistic portrayals of Palin…
Worldwide Women
By Louise Livesey | 16 September 2008, 15:16
Over at the BBC there is preview of some upcoming films about life around the world. The article on Eritrean women is particularly interesting. It focuses on three women, Leyla trying to decide whether to have her daughter circumcised, Amina…
Why women are leaving the church….
By Louise Livesey | 16 September 2008, 13:55
Feminist researcher Kristin Aune from University of Derby has been studying why women appear to be leaving the Church of England. Her conclusions? Women see more relevance in, for example, TV icons who promote female empowerment than in traditional religion….
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Round Up
By Louise Livesey | 10 September 2008, 14:46
Quite a few interesting snippets today so bare with me. Apologies if we covered this already but on the recent selling sex theme read this article by Julie Bindel. And yes it does make clear it’s not claiming to be…
On size zero and modeling
By Louise Livesey | 9 September 2008, 14:08
Londonist has an interview with London Assembly member Dee Doocey about the British Fashion Council’s u-turn over issuing certificates proving that models’ BMI is healthy. Some exceprts: Why are the younger, up and coming designers more likely to be in…
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3 Minute Wonder Film
By Louise Livesey | 9 September 2008, 13:35
On Maryam’s story - Maryam was a speaker at the Million Women Rise event on International Women’s Day. This is definately a thoughtful film about the identity of contemporary asian women’s identity in the UK and about women’s identity more…
Quick flick through some disparate links….
By Louise Livesey | 9 September 2008, 10:38
Renee at Feministe has a fabulous entry on why make up and fashion isn’t empowerment for most women. When women who are middle/upper class engage in a debate as to whether an article of clothing, or makeup is suitably feminist…
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News Round-up
By Louise Livesey | 4 September 2008, 10:21
Starting more locally - the Welsh Assembly have confirmed girls will be offered the HPV vaccine. Here is the page hosting the Scottish TV advert, this is meant to have the English advert but it isn’t working at the moment…….
Selling women’s bodies in the news again
By Louise Livesey | 4 September 2008, 09:56
Research by the Poppy Project has found brothels in London selling women for £15 plus another £10 for unprotected sex although the average price was £62. 85% of them are in residential areas and they found around 28 brothels in…
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Intergenerational Communication
By Louise Livesey | 28 August 2008, 14:26
LaToya over at Feministe has written an amazing piece about Alida Brill and stories from the feminist world. She starts with a great and timely reminder… Every now and again, I’ll hear someone make a remark that goes something like…
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Gender Role Research Misrepresented (again - yes I know we shouldn’t be surprised).
By Louise Livesey | 28 August 2008, 13:18
First off, hat tip to the readers who flagged this to us, thank you. The Yorkshire Building Society (well know gender activists there) did a survey about customers attitudes to gender roles. Now if you believed the first Telegraph article…
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“Best”, “Worst” and gender divides
By Louise Livesey | 28 August 2008, 12:43
According to the Times Higher Education Supplement, The Daily Star wrote a guide to British Uni’s. The basis of their comparisons? Gender ratio and beer prices. Not only that but apparently the “best” was represented by the highest female to…
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Why being a fat man is better than being a fat woman and other musings….
By Louise Livesey | 28 August 2008, 12:00
Summer brings on all sorts of strange behaviours - like paying money to be suspended upside down at high speeds and whizzed through the air at increasingly scary (or fun!) velocities. I am talking about Theme Parks (obviously). But consider…
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More on teaching feminism to girls
By Louise Livesey | 14 August 2008, 17:26
Further to this (Jessica Ringrose and teaching feminism to girls), Joan Smith has written an excellent column over at The Times. Looking back, I’m amazed at how much we achieved - many feminist ideas, such as the right to maternity…
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WTF?
By Louise Livesey | 14 August 2008, 12:41
Orangina - “naturally juicy” like pole dancing, porn and anthropomorphising animals to be “sex” objects….
Another imprisonment case….
By Louise Livesey | 13 August 2008, 20:33
This time in the US, Raymond Daniel Thurmond held his wife and four children in a single width trailer home since 2005 and didn’t allow them out. They lived off junk food and only one of the children, now aged…
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Some more in the news stories
By Louise Livesey | 11 August 2008, 09:33
The TUC have (maybe worthwhile-ly) managed to state the bleeding obvious - migrant women are most likely to be paid less than the national minimum wage The research found: “worrying” trends including long working hours, insecure jobs and poor pay….
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The Olympics
By Louise Livesey | 11 August 2008, 09:25
OK so I’m not a sports fan but I just wanted to note - as no-one else seems to have so far - that the UK’s first two medals were both won by women. Nicole Cooke in the Cycling Road…
News round-up
By Louise Livesey | 10 August 2008, 11:35
And whilst we’re on confusions (see my last entry) I Blame the Patriarchy has a good example from Seattle news which confuses the idea of “prostitution” and the idea of kidnapping and forcing into sexual slavery. This news bulletin is…
Confusion over feminism….?
By Louise Livesey | 10 August 2008, 11:01
The Daily Mail seems to have excelled itself in confusion this week. First was Anna Pasternak’s pity-party article about how she thinks responding to life’s events quite well has left her single (her argument seems to be because she didn’t…
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In better news
By Louise Livesey | 8 August 2008, 16:39
Apparently the Home Office is going to ban two chemicals which can be combined to create the date-rape drug GHB. Gamma-butyrolactone and 1,4 butanediol when swallowed together they turn into GHB and are used in some solvents and cleaning products….
Can someone explain to me….
By Louise Livesey | 8 August 2008, 16:26
why the Guardian is giving this misogynistic killer airtime? Guardian reporter Tom Phillips has interviewed the man accused of killing Cara Burke. Warning *DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS* if you are likely to get upset at unapologetically misogynistic self pity….
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Get active
By Louise Livesey | 6 August 2008, 18:21
Irrespective of the topic I would encourage people to take this piece at Feministe to heart. Remember: the personal is political. The more we speak up about our experiences, the more people we find who have gone through the same…
Some news stories…
By Louise Livesey | 5 August 2008, 20:01
I couldn’t decide between “some news stories you might have missed” and “some news stories to make you blood boil” so settled on “some news stories…” and you can complete as you wish. Gold stars for the best endings…
Rape - It’s everyone’s fault except the perpetrators.
By Louise Livesey | 25 July 2008, 07:52
According to the International Centre for the Advancement of Reproductive Health (CIFARH) men rape because they lack a “sound religious background”. Now aside from the dodgy methods on this (they asked a general population sample, not a perpetrator sample, for…
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Violence Against Women
By Louise Livesey | 23 July 2008, 17:05
In case people haven’t seen it, Julie Bindel writes a very eloquent and passionate piece in the Guardian on Violence Against Women here. She’s reflecting particularly on the tenth anniversary of Emma Humphries death and the implications and shortfalls of…
Race is a feminist issue
By Louise Livesey | 23 July 2008, 09:59
This is the picture that has to give us pause for thought. It shows the towel covered dead bodies of two Roma girls, Cristina, aged 16, and Violetta, 14, whilst Italian crowds sunbathe around them. As the Independent has…
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Street Harassment Specialised - road harassment
By Louise Livesey | 22 July 2008, 08:42
Further to this and other posts on the same issues I was prompted to wonder about harassment and violence when driving or driving related. The prompt? A guy threatening to dowse me in petrol today for daring to question his…
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Apparently men know better….
By Louise Livesey | 20 July 2008, 11:39
Gary Nunn, in the Guardian, has committed that cardinal error trying to determine for feminism what feminism is. His target - weddings. Now he makes some interesting points, albeit to back up some spurious argument (like the reason business…
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Women being held back by equal rights legislation… or by anti-women business owners?
By Louise Livesey | 18 July 2008, 14:01
Further to this story, Woman’s Hour had a “conversation” (aka row) between Sylvia Tidy-Harris, the Managing Director of womenspeakers.co.uk and Sarah Veale, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the TUC. Sylvia Tidy-Harris basically says, as a small business owner,…
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Post-feminism….?
By Louise Livesey | 18 July 2008, 12:10
In Surviving Sexual Violence Liz Kelly talks about the Woozle Effect - the notion that something repeated often enough will attain the status of a common-sense “fact” whether it has any truth to it or not. I start with this…
In other news….
By Louise Livesey | 17 July 2008, 09:39
For the first time the Suzy Lamplugh Trust has issued safety advice to men. Not sure whether to view that as a victory for parity or just a way of ensuring we all feel vulnerable all of the time (note…
ICC Indites Al Bashir - charges include sexual violence and rape in Darfur
By Louise Livesey | 17 July 2008, 09:30
Sudan’s president Omar Al Bashir has been indited for genocide by the International Criminal Court for the crimes in Darfur including the murder of hundreds and thousands of people and the sexual abuse a systematic rape of women and children….
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Welcome to the world….
By Louise Livesey | 17 July 2008, 08:03
where crimes against women are fair game for “edgy” comedy. Fast on the heels of Vegas-gate (and I’m really not reopening that discussion) comes Russel Brand’s belief that ringing the Police purporting to have seen a serial sex offender is…
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Women’s Studies alive and kicking
By Louise Livesey | 16 July 2008, 08:25
Further to rather overblown press presumptions that Women’s Studies is dead (see here, here and here, there is good news on the horizon. As hinted at here Ruskin College Oxford is recruiting for it’s Y1 course in Women’s Studies….
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Another quick round-up
By Louise Livesey | 2 July 2008, 13:38
Gosh it’s blogging overdrive from me today, makes up for being quiet for a few days I guess! So….pertinent to other discussions by gendered violence deniers on this site here’s a study from Wales which shows that 4 in 10…
Pentameter 2 Trafficking Operation Frees Trafficked Women and Children
By Louise Livesey | 2 July 2008, 12:53
The BBC has just reported that 500 trafficked people including 12 children have been freed at the end of the Pentameter 2 operation. Lets just hope the Government does treat the trafficked women as victims of crime and not as…
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Sexual Violence in the news
By Louise Livesey | 2 July 2008, 10:40
Further to this Jill Saward has written this piece on why she’s standing for the by-election. Needless to say, it being a Comment is Free piece so far she’s been described as “pathetic” (robertdaniel), told to “grow up” (GoingGoingGordon), that…
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Call for Contributions for New Zine
By Louise Livesey | 1 July 2008, 10:01
Is midwifery a feminist issue? How do feminists practice midwifery? What are feminists currently thinking about childbearing? What do feminists think about midwives? This is a ‘call out’ to feminists who would like to contribute to an upcoming ‘zine’ about…
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Backlash alive and well - as if we hadn’t noticed…
By Louise Livesey | 1 July 2008, 09:56
Kira Cochrane has written a very cogent analysis of the ways in which women are still discriminated against. I found myself tripping over signs, left and right, that not only does the feminist movement still have far to go, but…
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Sexual Violence in the news
By Louise Livesey | 27 June 2008, 12:02
First off, Jill Saward, campaigner for victims rights and against sexual violence (also the woman who was raped in the Ealing Vicarage rape case but that’s not her sole identity, dammit!) is standing against David Davis in his egotistical by-election….
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Activism in Action!
By Louise Livesey | 19 June 2008, 16:56
Great news from the division lobbies of Westminster where the Ten Minute Rule Bill on the re-categorisation of Lap Dancing clubs to Sex Encounter Establishments was completely un-opposed today. So there is now a mandate to relicense them as Sex…
Abortions in the news again
By Louise Livesey | 19 June 2008, 11:19
No this time because of legislation but because the Department of Health has published it’s annual statistical report on abortions. So here are the key headline facts: The total number of abortions performed on UK resident women in 2007 was…
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Some early morning responses
By Louise Livesey | 17 June 2008, 08:27
Dear Radio 4, Firstly Owen and Amy Philcox didn’t become “victims to their parent’s acrimonious divorce” they became victims of their father who killed them. Lets stop writing out men’s responsibility for their actions shall we? Especially as this was…
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A few morsels from the world….
By Louise Livesey | 16 June 2008, 11:48
Sorry for the rather fragmentary nature of this entry but just wanted to highlight a few things before going back to being deeply immersed in work again…. Firstly Things to Make your blood boil include this piece on Wii Fit…
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A new paradigm for thinking about prostitution
By Louise Livesey | 5 June 2008, 12:43
Over at Genderberg is this piece on a new paradigm for thinking about prostitution. And it’s fabulous! To cut to the core, it argues new moves in Sweden and Scotland are part of a move from a Build-A-Better-Whore paradigm to…
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I’d Do Anything - but I won’t do that…
By Louise Livesey | 4 June 2008, 16:59
So Jodie Prenger has been named the new Nancy for the christmas opening version of Oliver! Congratulations! But I was disquieted somewhat by the ways in which the women were encouraged to talk about the role. I’m thinking about such…
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Autism - not just for the boys…
By Louise Livesey | 4 June 2008, 16:43
The Guardian has a really interesting article on women with autism. It flags up that the major symptoms of autism tend to be behaviours assumed as masculine taken to pathological extremes (for example social awkwardness or obsession about a topic)….
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Misunderstanding the problem of child abuse
By Louise Livesey | 30 May 2008, 08:55
On BBC Breakfast news some parents are complaining about a booklet produced by the NSPCC designed to inform children about how to report abuse. The booklet, which adopts a youth magazine/comic book format, covers all forms of abuse but it’s…
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Iain Duncan-Smith on how to misuse research evidence
By Louise Livesey | 20 May 2008, 10:49
The HFEA continues to provoke debate. But on this morning’s Today programme Iain Duncan-Smith (former Conservative leader) gave us an object-lesson in misusing evidence grossly. His argument was that there was “overwhelming evidence” that children need fathers (I’ll talk about…
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Futher on HFEA
By Louise Livesey | 15 May 2008, 13:36
Further to this there are a number of amendments to the Act being proposed lowering the time limit for terminations (with hat-tip to Left Women’s Network. These are (Proposer: Amendment): Edward Leigh MP ‘In section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act…
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…
By Louise Livesey | 14 May 2008, 13:11
This is the Marital Rating Scale developed in the 1930s to assess wives. Basically it’s a series of merits and demerits based on assumed gender traits (including that women should be subservient to men). Whats galling, and takes this…
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Jack Straw’s just noticed….
By Louise Livesey | 14 May 2008, 09:23
I’ve heard of oblivious but Jack Straw has seemingly only just noticed that our judges are overwhelming white and male. Now he claims he wants to do something about it. Perhaps that will take less time than the 20 years…
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1970s feminisms, feminisms now
By Louise Livesey | 10 May 2008, 08:34
I’m liking this short article on why feminism needs to still exist from Pasadena Weekly (of all places)!…
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Women “putting themselves in danger” to sell homes
By Louise Livesey | 8 May 2008, 10:37
Shelia’s Wheels, that doyenne of spangly dresses and hairy blokes in drag, has done a survey which found that whilst 55% of women wouldn’t invite a man back to their home* on a first date, 82% would let a male…
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Ed Balls thinks schools intimidate fathers because they’re too female dominated….
By Louise Livesey | 8 May 2008, 10:29
Maybe what he should be arguing for is for more men to take responsibility for involvement in their children’s education and in the low paid, low value world of primary education. Instead he says primary schools (for which read women…
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And while we’re on the topic….
By Louise Livesey | 8 May 2008, 09:35
there comes news of this case from the US in which a woman fought off a sexual assault assailant, only to be punished by a crowd of laughing men with a second sexual assault. Melissa Bruen was walking home during…
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More on Fritzl
By Louise Livesey | 8 May 2008, 09:20
(Dear regular readers, we turned off comments on this and the previous post because of the numbers of comments just generally discussing the case not from a feminist perspective - there are mainstream news blog boards for that. So sorry…
New poster to tackle prostitution
By Louise Livesey | 6 May 2008, 10:22
Perhaps not the most direct or effective method but the British government has launched it’s new campaign to inform men using women engaged in prostitution that they may be breaking the law. So there we have it. The poster, which…
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Anyone seeking better children’s books
By Louise Livesey | 6 May 2008, 10:01
Should really go to Letterbox Library which has all sorts of amazing books including themes of refugees and asylum, disability and illess, anti-slave narratives, fostering and adoption and peace and conflict. Also does teachers packs for various keystages. Marvellous!…
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Jezebel coup on airbrushing
By Louise Livesey | 6 May 2008, 09:30
Jezebel has paid an inordinate sum of money to bring us this example of the cynical digital manipulation of women’s bodies. It’s a photo of Faith Hill, on the right as it appeared on the cover of Redbook and on…
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Further to the Johnny Vegas story
By Louise Livesey | 2 May 2008, 18:08
It has been pointed out on another feminist forum that the way to really hurt these sorts of men is in their pockets. Vegas is the voice of PG Tips at the moment. Here is their contact page to complain…
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How, in the name of all things just, is this not a criminal act?
By Louise Livesey | 1 May 2008, 11:37
EDIT: Johnny Vegas has now apparently started legal proceedings over the article by the Guardian, one assumes for defamation but that’s not clear at this point. He’s appointed a firm with a history of pursuing cases against internet publishers (Schillings)….
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Response to Khalid Diab
By Louise Livesey | 1 May 2008, 11:06
I Blame the Patriarchy has written a response to Khalid Diab’s call for men to be accepted as full feminists. This guy, writing at the Guardian, is under the impression that, not only is feminism about “equality,” but that he…
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Announcements….
By Louise Livesey | 30 April 2008, 13:37
Readers of The F Word over in (East?) Yorkshire might be pleased to hear there is a new feminist group. Unfortunately they met on 28th (and I didn’t know until today) but there was a piece in the Scarborough Evening…
Some feminist reflections
By Louise Livesey | 30 April 2008, 13:23
Not mine for a change…. Jessica Valenti, over at Feministing, has been reflecting on the recent racism issues in the blogosphere and publishing worlds. It includes this admission. But I think that I’ve been focusing so hard on changing mainstream…
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OK this is scary wierd, perverse and wrong
By Louise Livesey | 29 April 2008, 16:53
(With a hat-tip to Jezebel) A US chat show (Tyra) had a segment really on an 18 year old adult film actress called Summer. Nothing new in that. Except her manager is her father. And her manager is “responsible” for…
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I just have to share
By Louise Livesey | 29 April 2008, 16:44
This is an article by Rebecca Solnit called Men Explain Things to Me and it is in equal measure hilarious and frightening accurate. I advise reading it and enjoying it, and then recommending it to every man you know……
Elizabeth Fritzl case
By Louise Livesey | 28 April 2008, 09:50
Reports are emerging from Austria of a woman held captive for 24 years by her father and repeatedly raped and forced to bear him seven children. One child died. A series of underground rooms equipped for sleeping and cooking, and…
Bin the Bunny Tshirts now on sale
By Louise Livesey | 28 April 2008, 09:26
According to Beyond Feminism you can buy your very own Bin the Bunny tshirt for just £12. £7 from each sale goes to supporting the Radical Feminist Summer Gathering in Manchester on 26th July….
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Profiles for the Women’s Movement
By Louise Livesey | 28 April 2008, 09:19
The Guardian has profiled Carmen Callil who founded the Virago Press. Carmen Callil set up Virago to publish books that celebrated women - and dreamt of shelves of green paperbacks all over the world. The Modern Classics list gave voice…
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Speechless - you will be…
By Louise Livesey | 25 April 2008, 22:18
Hat tip to Feministing I have always had a difficulty with the sexism of the Wayan’s brothers’ work whilst at times appreciating their criticism of white privilege. But this put an end to any sense of latitude I had previously…
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Research into why men think “no” means “yes”
By Louise Livesey | 25 April 2008, 09:03
I feel kind of torn on this one because it kind of suggests we should feel sorry for men who are just doing their best to understand nasty women’s ambiguous statements. Or maybe I’m just angry this morning… Anyway American…
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State of the nation
By Louise Livesey | 25 April 2008, 08:50
If you can judge a civilised society by the way it treats it’s children then we’re in trouble. The BBC reports two interesting things this morning. Girls are more likely to self harm than boys and 1 in 5 parents…
We care more about donkeys than abused women
By Louise Livesey | 23 April 2008, 08:53
Evidence from New Philanthropy Capital shows that the British public give more money to a single Devon donkey sanctuary than to Women’s Aid, Eaves and and Refuge combined. Yes dear readers that’s more to one group of donkeys than to…
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More nonsense research….
By Louise Livesey | 23 April 2008, 08:36
Today it’s reported if you want to conceive a boy you should eat breakfast cereals, bacon and banana’s. For a girl you should go on a diet. A survey of 740 pregnant women found that boys were slightly more likely…
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Here’s another one to get the blood boiling
By Louise Livesey | 28 March 2008, 17:01
Phil Taylor, local Conservative Councillor for Ealing, has been making some rather rash comments about Southall Black Sisters on his blog. Including these little gems: One of the basic chores of being a charity/voluntary organisation is justifying what you do…
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The F Word Blog Team goes international…..!
By Louise Livesey | 28 March 2008, 14:56
Or at least Louise appears on Austrian Radio…. I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest interviewee for Austria’s FM4 radio station on matters feminist. We’ve got their permission to upload the files here. So one is their International Women’s…
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Feminism and Marriage
By Louise Livesey | 27 March 2008, 10:02
This article really made me smile. I’m a feminist who got married for all the unromantic reasons (next of kin rights, transferring my pension rights to him upon death). If it weren’t that legal transfer without marriage was so difficult…
Hilary Clinton’s advice to young women…
By Louise Livesey | 24 March 2008, 19:21
An interesting snippet from Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera (and Hilary Clinton obviously!). Worth watching….
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Activism - who decides what counts?
By Louise Livesey | 21 March 2008, 19:53
There is an interesting post over at thefword.org: food, fat and feminism about what constitutes activism. I consider activism to be any action that serves to disrupt, oppose, or defy the established social or political status quo. The most effective…
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Tatchell on Pankhurst
By Louise Livesey | 21 March 2008, 19:21
Peter Tatchell has been talking about Sylvia Pankhurst, which is all fine and lovely, but this line is just another example of how we get rendered invisible… There are no contemporary women rights campaigners who come anywhere near Sylvia’s radicalism…
More positive news
By Louise Livesey | 20 March 2008, 21:01
The Home Office has released figures showing that the new Specialist Domestic Violence Courts have increased prosecution rates to over 70% overall. Sadly the Home Office is now saying it’s earmarked the £1 million pounds for tackling domestic and sexual…
Good news for Rape Crisis
By Louise Livesey | 19 March 2008, 17:05
Although not an end to rape which would be the ideal…. Harriet Harman, Minister for Women, has announced £1,000,000 in cross-departmental funding to help save Rape Crisis Centres. AS End Violence Against Women and Rape Crisis has pointed this can…
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Tim Lott decides women writers don’t need own prize…
By Louise Livesey | 18 March 2008, 12:01
Whitbread prize winner Tim Lott has said that the Orange Prize for Fiction, the only women-only award, is (wait for it) “discriminatory, sexist and perverse”. According to Mr Lott women no longer have a tough time in writing and publishing…
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Other sexual violence news stories
By Louise Livesey | 17 March 2008, 14:39
The first charges have been brought on Jersey. Gordon Claude Wateridge has been charged with sexual assaults of girls between 1969 and 1979 when he was warden at Haut de la Garenne. Oklahoma has decided that a man putting his…
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Eton students accussed of sexual assault
By Louise Livesey | 17 March 2008, 14:02
This story in The Times has prompted an avalanche of responses (about which more later). The basic story is that four Eton boys have been suspended and are under internal investigation for sexual assault and theft from a girl from…
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News from the TUC
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 10:22
This just in… *bong* (aka Big Ben sound effects) Motherhood affects women’s pay *bong* Women without children most likely to be doing unpaid overtime On the former research has shown that having children results in a drop in pay of…
News Coverage more reflection
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 09:52
I was passed a local newspaper by a student of mine the other week. She was (rightly) questioning the contradictions of two stories within the paper. The paper was the Oxford Mail, but it’s not alone in struggling to cover…
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Women organising around rape…
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 09:44
Two quick news items on this…. Constance McCullagh has written in the New Statesman about her experience of using Rape Crisis 20 years ago and her concerns about women (and men) who need the service now. From The New Statesman…
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The right to choose…
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 12:36
There is an interesting piece over at the Guardian about one woman’s decision to not have the Down’s Syndrome amnio test. But if, like me, you are a disabled mother-to-be, there will be one more question from the well-meaning inquirer….
Hat tip to Menstraual Poetry
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 12:33
For highlighting this ad for Wii. There is so little I can say about this I won’t even bother trying. Please someone tell me it’s a hoax…..?…
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How (not) to get women into your industry…
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 11:05
The European Union information society commissioner, Viviane Reding, has argued that the ICT industry needs to promote itself on the basis of not being boring but rather that: “IT jobs can be very sexy indeed.” Yes because that’s what’s driving…
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Taking racism seriously…
By Louise Livesey | 9 March 2008, 13:10
Feministe.com has Put up a list of how people try to avoid dealing with racism, it’s fab and so I’m putting the highlights here…. The Bootstrap Myth “Racism is a thing of the past… this is a free country, and…
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IWD round-up from across the world
By Louise Livesey | 9 March 2008, 11:54
Here’s some of the news stories from around the world on and around International Women’s Day… Starting over in Jersey, there was a vigil for the victims at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home. It was designed to break:…
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Sex Toys and Texas
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 15:39
We can sell something that looks like a penis as long as it doesn’t vibrate and something which vibrates so long as it doesn’t look like a penis Rightwing legislators are trying to strike down the de-criminalisation of sex toys…
Amnesty on girls and schooling
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 10:50
A global review by Amnesty International of girls experience of schooling has found that The World Health Organisation found the most common place where sexual harassment and coercion are experienced is in school 50% of schoolgirls in Malawi said they…
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Round-up of thoughts on womanhood and feminism….
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 10:02
So let’s start with womanhood shall we…. According to Penelop Trunk at Boston.com we should be planning to have children earlier as Generation X is suffering from increased infertility. Of course she offers no evidence for this whatsoever, relying instead…
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And the list continues….
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 17:07
The Guardian reports that Karl Taylor has been convicted of murdering Kate Beagley on their “first date”. I put that in inverted commas because often a friendly relationship is called “dating” in Court and I don’t know whether this was…
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Feminist In-Fighting
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 11:58
Rebecca Walker (daughter of Alice and founder of Third Wave Foundation) has written a piece about why some in-fighting is kind of important. She’s an eloquent writer but I will try to summarise her main points: 1. The exclusionary practices…
Shoes maketh the (wo)man…
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 11:38
Sarah Sands has written a piece in The Independent about how feet and shoes have become a marker of feminine identity. “The pain that women endure for beautiful shoes is, like childbirth, unknown to men…High heels are to us what…
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Name and Shame them….
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 18:08
I am continually frustrated by people who can’t get my name right, I mean it’s not difficult, it’s not double barrelled (which leads to with or without hyphen dilemmas), it’s not oddly spelt, it’s not got silent letters none of…
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Sexist Language Continued
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 18:00
With reference to Jess’s fab post on feminists destroying the English Language there is a fab article here on Why Sexist Language Matters….
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What it’s really like to be fat…
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 17:47
The Guardian published an article over the weekend on one woman’s experiences of what it’s like to be fat. It contained this vignette: We were on the ferry, returning from a break in Ireland, queueing for food. When I saw…
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Have things changed?
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 17:00
Over at SmartGirlsKnow there is a republication of a 1943 tips sheet for managers of how to get more out of their workers. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters….
And whilst we’re on the visual stuff….
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 16:56
This is Playboy’s latest wheeze. Not only is this profoundly insulting to women and intrusive (note it’s outside their store) but it also reduces men to the level of sniggering pre-pubescent’s. Insulting all round…….
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New Rape Crisis Scotland campaign - speaks for itself really…
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 16:21
The new campaign comes in response to an evaluation report on whether questioning practices had changed since barristers had to request permission to question on prior sexual experiences. In coming to a decision on whether or not the evidence…
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Create a hero - create a stereotype!
By Louise Livesey | 3 March 2008, 13:57
Some interesting reflections arise out of NBCs “Create a Hero” exercise. Perusing the results has got me thinking. For example, Week 1 asked about looks, nationality and location and created these results: Male Hero Birth Place: 43% The Americas (43%)…
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Conservatives new policy
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 11:50
David Cameron has apparently promised that a third of ministerial posts will go to women if he’s elected. That’s obviously a comfort given we make up 52% of the population and given the Conservatives are likely to elect less than…
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Ratzinger bans “feminist” interpretations
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 11:19
The Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, has outlawed use of “feminist alterations” such as refering to God as “the creator” rather than “the father, son and holy spirit”. The Vatican decreed that anyone being baptised using alternate phrases such as “creator”, “redeemer”…
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Feminism and music - the same old stereotypes
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 10:17
According to AOL music whilst the Spice Girls were about “fun feminism” (I assume as opposed to the un-fun nasty dour sort) we have now entered a phase of music being about male sexual titillation. Now, of course, you could…
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Alison’s Cycle
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 12:56
There is a moving and interesting film over at Menstrual Poetry - a poetry cycle reflecting on one woman’s experience of abuse and life-experience. “Alison’s Cycle” is a reading of poetry from inside of the soul that reflects 5 days…
Bit of a news round-up
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 12:14
Disparate stories but all worth a mention…. First, and rather worryingly, a Nigerian State Assembly member beat a female opposition politician into a coma for behaving “like a prostitute” because she repeatedly criticised him on the radio. Alhaji Labaran Abdu…
And whilst I am on a roll….
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 10:21
There’s an really interesting piece over at Mama(e) in Transition about the way society and feminism talks (or ignores) motherhood and, in particular, birth mothers in adoption issues….
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Map of Gaps in Violence Against Women Services
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 10:10
EVAW (End Violence Against Women) has produced a lovely set of pictoral representations of where services for women experiencing violence against women are lacking (and good). Here are some of their findings… A third of local authorities in the UK…
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Not one of those feminists….
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 09:54
I’ll never forget one birthday party I had a few years ago where an old schoolfriend of mine had brought her new boyfriend. We’d chatted for a while, he’d been talking geek stuff with my then boyfriend and then I…
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Southall Black Sisters (the saga continued)
By Louise Livesey | 29 February 2008, 09:42
It’s not often we recommend an article by a bloke, but Sunny Hundal has written a great piece on why Southall Black Sisters is a. important and b. meeting government aims but c. still being delisted for funding. The protest…
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Taking forced marriage seriously….?
By Louise Livesey | 28 February 2008, 17:18
Yes but only as a way to curb immigration apparently. Rahila Gupta has written on just this topic: how the proposed Forced Marriage legislation is actually a way of limiting immigration dressed up as protecting women’s rights. You can read…
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BBC Moral Maze
By Louise Livesey | 28 February 2008, 09:18
In a week where Levi Bellfield, Stephen Wright and Mark Dixie were sentences for the rapes and murders of women - an extreme version of the rampant misogyny in society - the BBC seems to have taken a rather odd…
“In a misogynist world, women just can’t win.”
By Louise Livesey | 27 February 2008, 14:15
Kira Cochrane has written an interesting article in the light of Levi Bellfield’s conviction for the murder and attempted murder of three women. But she starts with, what appears to me, to be a redundant question - “how could it…
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This is what a feminist looks like….
By Louise Livesey | 26 February 2008, 19:30
Photographer Patricia Nuss has been compiling pictures of feminists and short written statements about their feminism. It’s an interesting snapshot. Well worth a look but this is my favourite: I was the girl who said, “no. I am not a…
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Sexism and the Oscars
By Louise Livesey | 26 February 2008, 15:11
Sarah Churchwell has written a thought-provoking article over at Comment is Free about how women lose out at the Oscars unless it’s ring-fenced as a woman’s award. In 1928, at the first Academy Awards, there were 15 categories. Men won…
Points with a Purpose
By Louise Livesey | 26 February 2008, 10:16
Not the latest Nectar card offer but an initiative in the US to create a pointillist work of art in which each dot in the main picture represents a survivor of sexual violence and each dot in the surrounding area…
Hands Project - call for participants (women only)
By Louise Livesey | 25 February 2008, 18:55
‘I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.’ D.H Lawrence This is an invitation for women to participate…
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Women’s Lives in Afghanistan worse now than under Taliban
By Louise Livesey | 25 February 2008, 14:33
According to a new report women’s lives have become significantly worse since the Allied Forces invasion of Afghanistan than they were before. The ongoing war and consequent rise in poverty is leading to greater numbers of families selling their daughters,…
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Mixed feelings over HIV prevention gel…
By Louise Livesey | 25 February 2008, 14:22
On the one hand I am ecstatic that researchers seem to have got a step closer to finding a new way to prevent the spread of HIV. On the other hand I am saddened that scientific research again privileges men’s…
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Comic Books and Racism
By Louise Livesey | 22 February 2008, 21:41
There is an excellent post over at Racialicious pointing out the whitewashing comic book character Vixen from black woman to white woman. The original Vixen is on the left, the new version on the right (right hand character). Apparently this…
This edition of Newsnight was brought to you by the actions splutter and the words “what the…?”
By Louise Livesey | 21 February 2008, 23:23
Anyone else just seen it? The programme was covering the sentencing of Steve Wright for the murder of five women in Ipswich. Now other than their continued and insistence that these weren’t women but “prostitutes” (as if engaging in sex…
Reflection on the US nominations process
By Louise Livesey | 21 February 2008, 09:59
It just occurred to me, whilst catching up on my blog reading, that this is the first US election I’ve seen where Race and Gender are words used during the campaign (rather than afterwards to explain why millions of voters…
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Vaginal orgasm - truth or myth - scientists claim to have the answer…
By Louise Livesey | 20 February 2008, 18:22
Way back in 1970 Anna Koedt wrote The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm arguing that the vagina is not designed as a pleasure centre and therefore attributions of frigidity based on not reaching vaginal climax (as opposed to clitoral…
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Robin Morgan on Clinton v Obama
By Louise Livesey | 20 February 2008, 12:08
Robin Morgan has written an excellent piece on Comment Is Free about the Democrat race for nomination and pointing up some of the fallacies of the campaign and what real social change would mean. For example: Goodbye to pretending the…
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Let’s all say “yay!” for Ellen Page
By Louise Livesey | 19 February 2008, 19:39
Actor Ellen Page, hot on the heels of her success in Hard Candy has dismissed questions that her new film, Juno is pro-life. “I call myself a feminist when people ask me if I am, and of course I am…
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BBC 6 Music Chief needs to get a clue
By Louise Livesey | 19 February 2008, 14:32
Leslie Douglas, head of popular music at BBC 6 (and also Head of BBC2) has said “”It’s partly how you talk about music. Men tend to be more interested in the intellectual side of the music, the tracks, where albums…
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Images of Black Women Film Festival
By Louise Livesey | 19 February 2008, 10:39
Various offerings at this Festival including: 1st March ‘Talk to Me’ by US women director Kasi Lemmons (Tricycle Theatre) 2nd Mar Beah: A Black Women Speaks highlighting women’s role in the Civil Rights Movement and programme of films by african…
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Normally I’m with Linda Smith on this*
By Louise Livesey | 14 February 2008, 13:48
Australian MP Bob Such has claimed that women wearing certain tshirts are encouraging sex attacks (he doesn’t seem to specify whether against themselves or other women) and demeaning their sex. According to him “some clothing could lead to men…
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More on rape as a tool of war
By Louise Livesey | 14 February 2008, 13:31
In the same week the UN Security Council condemns the use of children as soliders and sexual violence against them as a tool of war, it is reported that the Kenyan conflict is utilising rape of women and children (some…
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Celebrate the small stuff no matter how temporary
By Louise Livesey | 14 February 2008, 09:51
John Kampfner has resigned from the editorship of the New Statesman. This is not what I am celebrating. What is worth celebrating, no matter how little significance the Guardian gives it*, is that Sue Matthias, deputy editor, is taking over…
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No Lastminute.com this isn’t going to endear you to me
By Louise Livesey | 14 February 2008, 09:12
Lastminute’s adverts sink to a new low…. Tantrums. Sulking. Tears. And that’s just the men. Forgetting Valentine’s Day can make the dreamiest love stories a living nightmare, so make sure you’ve got it sorted with our last chance gifts and…
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A Period Drama
By Louise Livesey | 13 February 2008, 09:54
Unite’s rather wacky but good video on the scandal of Lilets - if you haven’t heard about this until now, watch this and will be explained…….
Misuse of language…
By Louise Livesey | 12 February 2008, 09:14
No I’m not going to comment on punctuation and grammatical errors on the F Word (as one of the main offenders that would be hypocritical) but rather on the misuse of terms with very gender based implications. Take this morning’s…
Feminist Philosophers neatly encapsulate equal pay story
By Louise Livesey | 11 February 2008, 14:24
Copied from Feminist Philosophers because, frankly, I couldn’t put it better…. UK Members of parliament are urging action to close the pay gap between men and women. (Currently at 18% for full-time workers and 40% for part-time.) Meanwhile, Birmingham council…
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More women sentenced to stoning to death for “adultery”
By Louise Livesey | 11 February 2008, 14:06
But this time it’s not just a dubious allegation it’s double jeopardy. Iran has surpassed itself with this one. Zohreh Kabiri-niat and her sister Azar have been tried for adultery. The substance of the allegations is that Zohreh’s (seemingly quite…
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Is it just me…
By Louise Livesey | 11 February 2008, 10:19
Or is this just a bit ridiculous? A woman worker on an oil rig will appear in course today over the evacuation of the oil rig over the weekend. Apparently the story goes like this. The woman had a dream…
Times they are a-changing…
By Louise Livesey | 11 February 2008, 09:35
Australian car dealerships have just been given a wake-up call that women are indeed knowledgable customers. An online car magazine asked for women’s experiences of buying a new car and found that a quarter said they were ignored in showrooms,…
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I have superpowers - I’m invisible again…
By Louise Livesey | 8 February 2008, 16:58
The Telegraph, picking up a story from the Times Higher, is reporting the Women’s Studies is dead. Yet again I find myself in the throes of either invisibility or non-existence. I know Holly is commenting on the laziness of the…
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Male Privilege Checklist
By Louise Livesey | 8 February 2008, 09:58
Of use to those of us who find ourselves banging our heads on the brickwall of male intransgience - how male privilege operates in 46 easy points. My particular favourites include: 38. If I have a wife or live-in girlfriend,…
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Sorry Civitas, were you trying to be insulting or did it just happen?
By Louise Livesey | 8 February 2008, 09:31
Whilst the Rowan William’s publicity seeking speech wendles its merry way onwards Civitas today joined the fray on the Radio 4 news programme. Why is this of interest to us? Because their argument was that Sharia law should not be…
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Clothing - forward thinking and retrograde
By Louise Livesey | 8 February 2008, 08:47
Lets start with the negative shall we? New Zealander Karen Walker has received rave reviews for her collection of clothes for adult women based on childswear and dolls’ clothes. And Edwardian childswear and dolls’ clothes at that. Edwardian times being…
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Women’s Health Round-up - all is not rosy
By Louise Livesey | 6 February 2008, 10:55
First off is the news that women are opting for Caesarian Section births because they are scared of childbirth. A study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology questioned 496 first-time mothers with a healthy pregnancy at…
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Women’s Parliamentary Radio
By Louise Livesey | 5 February 2008, 16:07
A new web radio service has been launched. Women’s Parliamentary Radio aims to be the “Women’s Hour of Westminster”. It aims to report fairly and accurately on policy issues of concern to women and their families, broadcasting interviews with…
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Sally Anne Bowman Murder Trial Continues
By Louise Livesey | 5 February 2008, 16:02
The man suspected of killing teenage model Sally Anne Bowman had admitted to having sex with Bowman’s dead body but denies murdering her. Mark Dixie claims he was inebriated after birthday celebrations where he was angry because his girlfriend hadn’t…
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Airbrushing can do this….
By Louise Livesey | 5 February 2008, 15:56
Airbrushing, as commonly used in the media can turn Kelly Osborne from this to this . You can listen to the show, The Surgery here….
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First Anti-Abortion Amendment Defeated
By Louise Livesey | 31 January 2008, 08:48
Abortion Rights reports that the first anti-abortion amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill has been defeated in the House of Lords. The amendment, which would have banned abortion on the grounds of severe foetal abnormality, was defeated 22…
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Afghani Student Sentenced to Death for Reading About Women's Rights
By Louise Livesey | 31 January 2008, 08:21
Todays headlines show both how the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating but also how women’s rights are still seen as a threat. Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a 23 year old journalism student, has been sentenced to death for downloading and distributing…
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End Violence Against Women - UniFem Campaign
By Louise Livesey | 28 January 2008, 15:10
Launched back in November but not sure we covered it then. For every signature for the first 100,000 there is a £1 donation promised to Unifem so please, sign it and get your friends to sign it too. So…
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India: where class, caste and sexism collide…
By Louise Livesey | 28 January 2008, 10:22
India faces many problems as a nation but internal differences reinforce the position of some of the most oppressed. In face of the discrimination faced by some members of society women have banded together to form the Gulabi Gang….
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Rapist gets Military Honours
By Louise Livesey | 27 January 2008, 12:27
This case from America has to raise questions for us all…. James Allen Selby entered the flat of Jenny Bush, gagged and bound her with duct tape and rapes her at knifepoint before fleeing. Bush frees herself, reports the crime…
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New Scientists reveals sexism in research publishing
By Louise Livesey | 27 January 2008, 12:23
According to a story in the Jan 18th edition female scientists are less likely to be published if the peer reviewers know they are female. Gender, nationality and nepotism have also been implicated in decisions for research fellowships. It’s based…
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Hollaback Girls
By Louise Livesey | 16 January 2008, 10:43
Annoyingly this is a take two entry due to the system eating the last one, so forgive me if it’s shorter and terser than the defunct, disappered original! I am sometimes behind the times (like I hadn’t read Lynne’s excellent…
Quick stats - sexual violence is unusual?
By Louise Livesey | 9 January 2008, 14:23
I just put this together quickly for something else put thought it worth sharing here. You know those moments when people claim that violence against women is rare and the majority of men are being harshly and unfairly judged on…
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Pre-pubescent Brazilians (no not the country…..)
By Louise Livesey | 9 January 2008, 10:41
We’ve all seen how children’s clothing has become more and more sexualised, well the next move is apparently waxing for pubescents. Oh yes braxilians for the pre-teens…. girl.au.com, a website for the nine-fifteen year market contains a couple of articles…
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